How To Be The Dragonborn
by DragonProtector09
Summary: The discovery of a simple trinket in the old volcano on Dragon Island starts off a series of important events for Hiccup and Toothless. Both of them now have the excuse to explore their heritage and they now must understand what it means to be a Nightfury and the Dragonborn. With help from friends and family, will they be able to balance out a new way of life with saving the world?
1. Chapter 1

**So this idea has been bouncing around my brain for quite a while now and I'm several chapters in with the writing. I'm enjoying writing this story so I thought why not share the first two or three chapters and see what interest it gets? If people like it, I will keep going with it. If not, then I guess this is just something I will write for myself for fun. So if you like it, please leave a comment.**

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Chapter 1

Several months after the damage from old dragon raids had been fixed and the Viking village of Berk had gotten used to their new reptilian friends roaming the island, things couldn't have been better for the Vikings. The dragons turned out to be intelligent creatures and would help out with tasks where they could. True, the village's trade in things like dragon scales and bones had dropped now that they were at peace with the creatures but it also meant their crops and other food lasted longer now that the dragons weren't stealing it every night. In particular, things were going great for the heir of the village; Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III. Once known as the worst Viking in history and then as a traitor when he seemed to be siding with dragons during the war, Hiccup was now seen as a hero. Not only had he been the one to prove that dragons weren't as dangerous as they seemed, he had also been responsible for coming up with a successful plan to take down the incredibly large dragon that resided in the volcano through the mists of Helheim's gate. Sure, he'd lost his leg in the process but he'd proved his friendship to the black dragon that saved his life and had even gotten his peers, now his friends, hooked on dragon riding. All in all, things were going great for both the village and Hiccup.

Speaking of the young Viking, today he was exploring the volcano where the Green Death had been killed. Though now that the beast was gone, the island had become a bright haven for the local dragons and had been renamed Dragon Island. His midnight coloured dragon, Toothless, had been rather insistent on going to the island during their flight that morning and he had nothing important to get to that day so Hiccup decided to go. Once landed, Toothless took off like a shot but not into the crowds of dragons as usual, he went into the volcano. Both Hiccup and Toothless gave the volcano a wide berth as last time they were there, they were fighting the Green Death and the time before that, they'd discovered the beast and were racing to escape before getting eaten by the entire army of dragons hidden there and living in fear. Yet Toothless had just bounded in without a fuss.  
"Toothless!" Hiccup called, following as fast as he could. His balance and control with his prosthetic leg had improved immensely but this ground was incredibly rocky and would definitely give him a challenge as well as a sore stump. "Toothless, come on, buddy, I thought we agreed no running off on uneven surfaces?!" His voice echoed in the tunnels of the volcano as he made his way through, searching for his best friend. He heard the dragon's familiar happy croon. Had he found something?  
"Toothless, now would be a good time for you to reappear! It's pitch black in here, I can't see where I'm going!"  
His words worked as his dragon and best friend came hurtling towards him before coming to a halt right in front of him. Hiccup just smiled at the dragon's antics; Toothless acted like a cat sometimes and it always made the boy smile. "There you are, bud." He said, scratching behind one of Toothless' ears. In response, Toothless let out a happy little croon again and closed his eyes as well as leaning into his friend's touch. "Did you find something?" He asked and the dragon nodded before taking off again. At least he would stop to look back at Hiccup every so often. "I'm coming, bud." Hiccup said whenever this happened.

Toothless got to the large cavernous space before Hiccup did but that was a given; Toothless had already found the way and didn't have a false limb slowing him down. He waited for his skinny friendly human to reappear before heading over to a pile of mostly burned junk. They were remnants of the Queen. Being a rare dragon, Toothless was a prize in her army so was privy to things the other dragons weren't, like the Queen's stash of belongings and artefacts that pre-dated the three hundred year long war and possibly even earlier. Once the Queen had been killed and her mists had vanished, the dragons had taken great pleasure in burning as much as they could find in celebration, all except one thing that had been hidden very carefully and almost lovingly under the rocks. Toothless knew roughly where it was because he had seen the Queen pull it out and look at it a few times and soon he was delicately pushing an old leather bound book towards Hiccup who had finally caught up.  
"Hey, you found something?" Hiccup asked and watched as Toothless pushed something towards him. Curious as always, Hiccup picked it up and examined it.

"How'd this survive?" He wondered aloud, wishing his dragon could speak so they could bounce ideas off each other. Hiccup loved the companionship he had gained but it was a shame Toothless couldn't talk back; a curious mind like Hiccup's needed an equally curious mind to talk about things and bounce ideas off but that wasn't going to happen. Dragons were intelligent but not that intelligent. Still, Hiccup had this probably priceless book in his hands and he tucked it into a saddle bag on Toothless' saddle. "That all you came for, bud?" He asked and the dragon nodded. "Okay then, lets go home." Hiccup said and climbed into the saddle because there was no way in Hel he was walking back across that terrain. His stump was starting to ache after crossing it once.


	2. Chapter 2

**I'll publish one more chapter after this one and after that, I'll leave it to how much interest this gets. I will admit, it takes a while for an actual plot to kick in but I'm afraid that's just my writing style; I like to have things burn slowly and subtly until it's time for big things to come to light. Sort of like Homestuck, I suppose. Like I requested in the first chapter, please leave a comment if you wish to see more.**

**Oh, forgot to do this in the last chapter. The Elder Scrolls series belongs to Bethesda while How To Train Your Dragon belongs to Cressida Cowel and Dreamworks Studios. I am earning exactly 0 profits from this story, it is simply a hobby to write about various fictional characters in odd situations. This story is being written for fun.**

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Chapter 2

Though the journey hadn't been very long, it was the time of year when the days were very short; Winter. Devastating Winter was a few months away roughly but you could never tell with the gloomy weather Berk usually got. Because of this, it was almost dark by the time Hiccup and Toothless returned home and they headed straight back to the house, grabbed some food and went upstairs. Stoic had been a little worried as this sort of behaviour was reminiscent of when Hiccup was believed to be nothing but a curse or a failure and he would purposefully avoid contact with as many people as possible. However, Hiccup had explained that Toothless had shown him a book and he wanted to read it so that had soothed his father's worries. After eating his fill of salmon, bread, honey and milk (he avoided mead. It tasted all right but Hiccup preferred to think and observe things clearly. Mead tended to mess with that.) Hiccup was sat on his bed, leafing through the book Toothless had found for him. The cover of the leather bound book was blank except for a few scratch marks but that was to be expected as it had been sitting under rocks for who knows how long. It was the inside that frustrated the young Viking. Instead of recognisable Norse runes, there were more scratches though these seemed to have some kind of pattern to them. But without a way to decode them, their meaning was lost on Hiccup and that frustrated him. Hiccup liked to learn things; he collected and absorbed knowledge like a sponge. Not quite to the degree Fishlegs did; the large blond boy was good at memorising and reciting whereas Hiccup tended to learn by doing and redoing until he got a result that was good. So with no idea of how to decode this pattern in the book and figure out what was going on and not knowing if there even was a way to decode it, Hiccup got a little frustrated and tossed the book onto the desk by his bed before curling up for the night. Or, he tried, anyway. Toothless decided to nuzzle into his arm until he sat up and then the dragon dropped the book into his lap.  
"Toothless, I can't read it." He said, hoping his dragon would understand. He hoped that sad look meant he'd understood but he didn't like seeing his dragon sad though he couldn't figure out why Toothless seemed to be upset. Whatever it was, the mood didn't last long as Toothless started to wag his tail again and then he just disappeared. Well... that was strange... but Toothless did seem to be enjoying night time strolls lately and with Berk accepting dragons, it was pretty safe and Hiccup knew his dragon would be back by morning so he rolled over and went to sleep.

While Hiccup slept, Toothless trotted through the village. A few late night workers would smile at the dragon and he grinned back as best he could without making his teeth come out since that still tended to frighten some of the humans. Toothless knew where he was going but his human would be very surprised at where he went at night; a few times a week, Toothless made his way to Hookfang's nest. Out of the group, Hookfang was the oldest and, believe it or not, Toothless was the youngest and a little behind on dragon teachings such as history and dragon skills. With Hookfang being the oldest, he turned to the large red dragon for help in this. Today, Toothless wanted to show his treasure to Hookfang because he'd told Hookfang that he would be grabbing something that the Queen had hidden away from everyone. He'd carried the book the entire way in his mouth, which had made it even harder to grin at smiling humans, and dropped it in front of the red dragon's snout. The slight flump of the book was enough to stir Hookfang's light sleep and he opened a bleary eye.  
_:Lesson time already, Toothless?: _He asked, yawning as the thought travelled to Toothless' mind. Dragons could speak aloud when they wanted to but it was something they had to learn and work very hard at as they had to retrain their vocal chords. It was easier if they had a parent that knew the skill but that wasn't the case for these two dragons so they stuck to the default mode of communication between dragons; thought-threads.  
_:I got my treasure, Hookfang!: _Toothless proudly told the older dragon and sat on his haunches, wagging his long tail and looking up at Hookfang, waiting for approval. The older and larger red dragon observed the leather bound book that Toothless had found in the volcano earlier that day. Strangely delicate claws carefully opened the book and turned the pages, thankfully without ripping them. Reptilian eyes scanned the pages, taking in the scratch patterns and seemingly understanding them. The only emotion Hookfang showed was the occasional widening of his eyes or raising his top lid where an eyebrow would be if he were human.  
_:This really is a treasure, Toothless.: _Hookfang said to jet black dragon who was still patiently waiting. His young face lit up at the praise and he waited to hear more. _:It doesn't talk of much but it does mention an old myth among our kind. What was the Queen doing with it, I wonder?:  
:I used to watch her take it out of its hiding place.: _Toothless quickly replied, currently on a bit of a high because of the praise he'd received. He was young and easily pleased. _:She would uncover it and look at it and turn a few pages then growl and put it away again.: _He explained as Hookfang continued to read.  
_:Tell me, Toothless, why did you want to collect this?:_ Hookfang asked after a few more minutes.  
_:Because of the symbol on the spine.: _Toothless nuzzled the book closed and spun it so that his friend could see the spine design. It was very simple, a dragon with angular wings sitting in a diamond. _:You were alive before the war, I thought you'd know it.:_ To his joy, Hookfang nodded.  
_:I know of it but I've never seen it myself until just now. I know you think the humans here might be like the humans in the stories Meatlug and I have told you but don't be disappointed if they're not. If you want to teach Hiccup our alphabet, you'd normally have to ask your Clan Elder but your kind are notoriously difficult to track down. If any dragons outside of this island find out you're teaching Hiccup our ways, you'll be in a lot of trouble.:  
:I'll be careful, I promise.:  
_It wasn't perfect but it would have to do. Hookfang pushed the book back to Toothless then sat up. _:Today's lesson, the skills belonging to each dragon kind.:_


	3. Chapter 3

**This is the last chapter I will be posting to the site. I am currently working on chapter 12 but as I said in the first two chapters, I'm writing this for fun. If people wish to see more of this story then please leave a comment and I will continue to upload chapters as I churn them out. If not then I will keep writing this for myself and my friends and you won't see any more of it.**

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Chapter 3

Morning arrived and Hiccup stretched as the sun's rays poured through the window of his room. After dunking a cloth in some water and getting rid of any dirt or sweat on his skin, he found some fresh clothes and made his way downstairs for breakfast. Hiccup's bathing habits came from a preference to not being covered in dirt. That and being a runt meant he had a harder time fighting off infections though that trait was slowly easing up as his constant training with dragons had finally started to build some muscle on his body. Once breakfast was eaten, the first order of the day was chores. It was simple enough; wash up the dishes he used, clean out Toothless' sleeping area, grab a week's worth of food from the store for him and his father, feed Toothless and he was done for the morning and could go flying. Or at least, that was usually the plan. He was reminded what day it was when he saw his father by the door waiting for him to get back with their week's worth of food.  
"Thor's day already, Dad?" Hiccup asked.  
"It is, son. I hope you didn't forget our deal." The large ginger viking teased before giving out a great booming laugh and leading Hiccup back out of the house and into the main area of the village. Thor's day, how could it have snuck up on him so quickly? His father had agreed to allow Hiccup to shadow him once a week so he could learn Cheif duties for when he took over from Stoick.

Today was mostly about diplomacy; the settling of small disputes between residents. Hiccup watched as his father spoke to an arguing couple about how to divide the belongings as they wished to terminate their marriage. Apparently, things hadn't been working out for a while and then came to a head when one caught their partner in bed with someone else. Not a cheerful way to start the morning. Still, Hiccup was very impressed at how diplomatic and calm his father was as he settled this as fairly as he could; he usually saw the indifferent or warrior side of his father. Seeing the gentle yet firm chief was a nice change from the norm. After that, there was a tiny disagreement between best friends Bucket and Mulch. Apparently, Mulch had taken advantage of his friend's simple nature again and tried not to pay compensation for the ram he'd accidentally killed. Yes, the two both owned and cared for their farm but some of the animals had come from their own separate farms before the friends had agreed to work together. Hiccup had stepped in that time by gently explaining to Bucket what was going on while his father went through all the technical stuff. That was soon solved but would probably rear its ugly head again in a few months.  
"Good day so far, son." Stoick commented as they stopped by the Mead Hall for some lunch. While the larger viking happily tucked into a huge bowl of stew, Hiccup had been far more content with a large plate of fried honey cakes. He had a sweet tooth; he could never resist them when they were being served. It was probably one of the few things he gorged himself on like other vikings gorged on their food in general. A frightening sight apparently, though Hiccup had never noticed the slightly disturbed expressions on everyone's faces as he ate his favourite food.  
"Quiet and easy, matches the weather." Hiccup replied, shoving another honey cake into his mouth. "And no dragon related disputes." He pointed out. "The dragons are behaving. I told you they were smart, they're learning."  
"No dragon talk today, son." Stoick gently chided. It was amazing he could do gently at all but he'd learned fast since Hiccup had proved he could be brave like any viking who was twice his size. "Just for this one day."  
Hiccup just rolled his eyes and smiled. "Sure, no dragon talk today." Which would be about as easy as not breathing but he would try. Him and his Dad were getting along much better now so he felt the least he could do was lay off on dragon related topics for one day a week.

Unfortunately, this didn't last long as a much hated voice croaked through the hall. "Stoick!" It called and you could almost see everyone in the hall sigh in exasperation. The voice belonged to a thin weedy and very elderly male carrying a staff in one hand and his beloved ram under his free arm. The tunic was simple and equally as old (there were rumours that this resident was so against change, he hadn't changed the tunic in decades) and the hair stark white and fraying. It was Mildew, Berk's resident spiteful and all round asshole.  
"What is it this time, Mildew?" Stoick replied, careful to keep his voice even and neutral. Mildew was bad enough like this but if he thought Stoick was taking sides before the conversation began, the old man would become unbearable.  
"It's the dragons, all they do is cause trouble!" The old man snapped and once again, everyone sighed. That was his usual complaint these days. It was well known that Mildew hated the dragons, why no one really knew but he would make a complaint everyday. In all fairness, sometimes they were genuine but most of the time, they were made up with a few cases of framing the dragons with things they didn't do.  
"What have they done this time?" Hiccup asked. He knew he'd promised no dragon talk but if Mildew was complaining about the dragons, as the only tamer, it was technically his job to deal with it. Plus, he could show his father his own diplomacy skills.  
"The little ones have been eating my precious cabbages again!" He snapped, his voice becoming even thicker with hatred if that were possible. Mildew wasn't exactly fond of Hiccup either, not since the boy befriended Toothless. Before that, he'd just ignored him like everyone else in the village had.  
"They have to eat too. Maybe it's been a day or two since they had a big meal. What's Fungus like when he hasn't been fed?" Hiccup asked, pointing to the ram that was either carried or followed his elderly master everywhere.  
"Well, he eats everything." Mildew said and then realised he hadn't helped himself this time. He swore Hiccup's expression became smug but that may have been the prejudice talking.  
"Exactly, rams are animals and so are dragons. It can't be helped that they happened to choose your cabbages, Terrors go for whatever happens to be closest to them at the time. They must have been flying or wandering near your house." Hiccup carefully explained and copied his father's tactic of keeping his voice even. Not too difficult considering he'd been doing that since he was little. Helped to hide his emotions from everyone. Hiccup thought he'd done a good job, Mildew making a scene as he huffed and stormed out of the hall didn't count as bad since he almost always did that anyway.  
"I thought we agreed-" Stoick started to say, trying to hide a grin.  
"No dragon talk, I know but Mildew started it and you made me head trainer, I had to." Hiccup replied, hanging his head a little and nibbling on one of his beloved honey cakes. He smiled when he felt his hair being ruffled by one of his father's incredibly large hands.  
"Couldn't have dealt with it any better, son." Stoick said, smiling down at Hiccup before holding in a laugh as the boy happily tucked into his treat again. "Take those with you; I'm sure you're missing Toothless right about now."  
That was all Hiccup needed. He picked up the plate and held it carefully as he darted out of the hall. "Thanks Dad!"


	4. Chapter 4

**So it would seem that this odd little idea of mine is actually being enjoyed by people? I'll be happy to upload more of this story, I do have several more chapters already written up and I will eventually start work on Chapter 12. However, I am mostly writing this story for fun; it is not a project I am taking seriously so my uploading will be sporadic. Please understand that.**

**With that out of the way, please continue to enjoy my story :)**

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Chapter 4

Instead of running home, Hiccup headed for the cove as that was usually where Toothless went when he was busy. Although, Hiccup ended up deciding to stop by his house to pick up his satchel so he didn't drop any of the honey cakes. He really loved the things. So, now that his favourite treat was safely stored away in his satchel, Hiccup was free to run as fast as his prosthetic leg would allow him. At least the grassy slopes were easier than the rocks and boulders of Dragon Island. When he arrived at the cove, he found his best friend sitting by the lake, scratching at the ground.  
"Hey, bud!" Hiccup called and joined his best friend before tucking into one of the honey cakes in his satchel. "How's it going?" He asked, gesturing to the scratchings, assuming they were art or something, while hiding his rather full mouth. The intelligent Viking could have sworn that Toothless sniggered at his behaviour before doodling in the dirt with his claw a little more. Hiccup curiously leaned over and tried to see what his best friend was so focused on. His heart suddenly felt like it was going to burst out of his chest as he recognised the drawing. It was a Norse rune. Nothing special, it was just Ansuz or the letter 'a' and then there were the scratches next to it.  
"What are you drawing, Toothless?" He asked, pointing to the scratches. The pattern seemed slightly familiar. To seemingly answer his question, Toothless carefully touched the rune with his paw then pointed to his scratches right next to it.

While Hiccup was used to most of his companion's gestures and could make a lot of educated guesses by now, this was new. New was good because new meant more knowledge but it was also bad because he had to spend a while working out what it meant and how it minutely differed from five other expressions and gestures that looked exactly the same. But Toothless' scratches in the dirt seemed to be important too so Hiccup had to think about context too. The rune he recognised and Toothless seemed to know its shape but he didn't know if the dragon understood that it was a letter. The rune had been drawn closer to Hiccup, perhaps because it was Norse and Toothless knew that he would understand it? The scratches that Hiccup didn't know were drawn closer to Toothless. If he was going by the logic of earlier, then perhaps it was some sort of marking that Toothless understood. And if he wanted Hiccup to understand... then that meant "Are these the same thing, Toothless?" He asked, his voice barely at a whisper. To his pure joy, Toothless nodded. Toothless was trying to teach him something. New letters. Had he invented them himself? This question and millions of others swam around Hiccups excited and curious brain but, just to check, he drew the next rune. In the Nordic alphabet, the next rune was 'Berkana' or 'b'. He watched and waited then Toothless raised a claw and began to draw next to Hiccup's rune. Toothless drew a straight line from right to left with it getting thinner as he went. Then he drew a second line going diagonally right to left and starting thick then getting thin just as before. Finally, he drew a dot by the thick end of the diagonal line.  
"Are these your letters?" Hiccup asked and grinned when Toothless nodded again then frowned slightly as Toothless also shook his head. "What do you mean?" A pointless question to ask considering the dragon couldn't speak Norse but that was a habit. However, Toothless simply pointed to Hiccup's bag with his tail, specifically, to the dragon part of the design. "All dragons use this?" Another nod.

The Viking couldn't believe it. He knew dragons were far more intelligent than people gave them credit for. Even he had sometimes brushed aside ideas he had, believing that dragons wouldn't be able to do whatever task his brilliant mind had come up with. However, he had clearly been very wrong as he had now learned that dragons had their own written language. Hiccup continued to write his alphabet, scribbling down Dagaz, Ehwaz and Fehu with Toothless drawing the equivalent in his tongue and the Viking noticed an unusual pattern. There were never more than three symbols combined to make a letter. The combinations were made of a variety of long and short lines and dots but looking at how Toothless drew them, Hiccup supposed it made sense. Dragon claws were dexterous but not quite as much as human hands which made writing a little limited. Within minutes, there was a full alphabet of Norse runes and draconic characters which Hiccup had hastily scribbled down in his journal and the scribbles in the loose dirt were wiped away. With this little dictionary, Hiccup realised he could ask Toothless anything and the dragon could write down his answers. They would have proper conversations! As fun as the one sided ones were, now that he knew that Toothless understood him better than he realised and they had a better form of communication, Hiccup had a desire to really get to know his best friend.  
"Do all dragons know this?" Was his first question. Toothless scribbled down a few characters which Hiccup translated by flicking back to his dictionary and writing down the Norse equivalent.  
_**Yes.**_  
"Are there other Vikings who know this?" He asked and repeated the process though it took a little longer as the answer was longer than a single word.  
_**Not anymore. Just you now. Unless the others want to teach your clan.**_  
Not anymore? That was an odd answer though the fact that Toothless was using 'clan' confused him too.  
"When you say clan, do you mean my family?" He only had his father and while that was fine, he had a feeling that two people didn't really count as a clan. More scribbles from Toothless to answer the question.  
_**Pretty girl. Large boy. Loud boy. Pair that always fight.**_  
"Oh, you mean my friends. I guess they're kinda like a second family. Apart from Snotlout, he is family. He's my cousin." The dragon tilted his head slightly so hiccup explained further. "His father and my father are brothers." That made more sense to Toothless as he nodded and waited for another question.  
"You said that apart from me, no humans know your language any more. Did people used to know it?"  
This answer took a while as Toothless went into a very long explanation.  
_**Was common knowledge a long time ago or so Hookfang says. Not old enough to remember, none of us are. Hookfang comes from an old clan so he knows a little but not enough for me. I want to know more, want to teach you more. But I'm just a hatchling, a baby, I'm still learning lots about my kind even now.  
**_Toothless was considered a baby? But he was already fairly sizeable for a dragon. Then again, Hiccup was a mere human; dragons probably judged sizes differently to him. Something else confused him about Toothless' answer too.  
"You talk to Hookfang?"  
_**Hookfang is oldest of our makeshift clan. He teaches me history and dragon skills.  
**_Now that surprised Hiccup as he had actually expected Toothless to be the oldest of his friends' dragons but, by the Nightfury's own admission, he was the youngest and Hookfang was actually the oldest and even taught Toothless things about his own kind.  
"So, you have to learn about these things?" He asked to confirm his theory. Toothless nodded before he started to scribble another reply.  
_**Parents teach us. Hook fang was born before war so knew some things. Meatlug knows too but she fusses over her human and the Terrors so is too busy to teach me. Barf and Belch probably forgot, don't know, never asked. Stormfly learned from others in the nest. Queen wouldn't let me near other dragons very often. I was her prize, her secret weapon.  
**_This gave Hiccup a small insight into how old some of the dragons were. The war had lasted for three hundred years which meant that Hookfang and Meatlug were older than that. Yet another thing, Hiccup had learned that afternoon; dragons had an incredibly long lifespan.

Hiccup felt a sudden chill and looked up. Time must have flown by as it was almost sunset. "Guess we'd better head back, bud. I'd like to know more if that's okay." Toothless nodded and crooned as he rose from his spot and wiped the messages away before following his best friend out of the cove and back into the village.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

As the humans slept, the dragons had gathered beneath the light of the moon. Oddly enough, they held the meetings in the old kill ring though now it was a Training Academy. All the weapons and even the roof had been removed to ease the dragons' old fears of being attacked and killed. Every dragon who lived on the island or in the surrounding territory had squished themselves into the arena for this meeting. It was an incredibly traditional and important meeting which they'd had to bring back and organise themselves due to the fact no one had any idea where their former clans were at the current time. The Queen was dead, that was true but many dragons had fled and scattered before they could fall foul of her hypnotic siren song. Those that had fallen under her spell either hadn't escaped or had wandered into Her territory. Without knowing where their clans were, it was very difficult to join other dragons when they heard the calls of their clans to meet up and exchange knowledge so, whenever a call was heard, the dragons would gather in the arena and hold their meetings there. This one was particularly special as all the dragons had heard the call; all the species were to gather but none of the Berk dragons were old enough to know or remember the secret meeting place of all dragon kind. This far less grand gathering was the best they could do.

Yet it seemed absolutely fine. Like in any other gathering, the dragons were chattering away while they waited for things to begin. Terrors chattered to each other in rapid bursts of sounds, Gronkles were exchanging knowledge in the form of low growls, Nadders preened each other, Zipplebacks tried not to breathe in their own gases and the Nightmares tried to make sure that none of the others did anything to alarm the humans. They were at peace with humans now but they still got startled by things they didn't understand and it would be hard to explain that they weren't being destructive when that one understanding human was likely fast asleep. Growls, rumbles, purrs and croons at different pitches continued to meld together in a mish-mash of confusing sound until a single command silenced them all.  
_:Quiet!: _It was Hookfang. Him and Meatlug, Stormfly, Toothless and Barf and Belch had arrived. The dragons parted for the group and allowed them to walk to the other end of the arena. The five dragons then turned their backs on the cages that once held them and faced the gathered dragons. Then there was more silence as the gathered dragons waited to start the ritual they had only heard of but there was a problem. Their leaders knew as much as the others did; they had no idea how to hold a gathering of such importance and were far too young to have this responsibility. Then there was the fact of their isolation from their respective clans.  
_:How should we do this?: _It was Meatlug's motherly tone that broke the silence. _:I know we should just say what feels right but do we do it in the human tongue or our own?:  
_The gathered dragons let out their cacophony of draconic sounds again though it was a little louder than necessary considering the humans were sleeping. There were mixed messages coming from every dragon there. Some were saying it should be the human tongue, others were disagreeing and then there was a faction that had no idea what should happen and were just making random sounds so they didn't feel left out. Hookfang lost his patience and shot a fire ball into the centre of the crowd where a gap had been left and that silenced the noise.  
_:We are not our ancestors and we are separated from our clan brothers and sisters. We can try in the human tongue and if it doesn't feel right, we can try our own.: _There was more silence but then there was a low hum of agreement. Finally, the Council Of The Kind could begin.

A nameless Terror buzzed up to the five and chirped out a quick greeting before sitting by its old cage. Then Meatlug buzzed her wings to raise herself two or three feet off the ground.  
_:I am Meatlug, representative for the Gronkles.:  
:Stormfly, representative for Deadly Nadders.:  
:Barf and Belch reporting for duty for the Hideous Zipplebacks!: _The two headed dragon was a little too light headed to attempt flight at that moment.  
_:Toothless.: _Toothless was the only Nightfury on the island so he had no one to represent at these meetings other than himself.  
_:I am Hookfang, representative for the Monstrous Nightmares and head of this Council.:  
_The six dragons let out little blast of fire to announce the beginning of the gathering. When all the dragons had settled once more, Hookfang spoke.  
_:There is only one issue that needs to be addressed by all dragonkind this evening. Toothless, please step forward and explain.: _Hookfang stepped aside so the young Nightfury had the attention of the gathered dragons. Toothless took one look at the crowd, gulped and took a breath to summon the courage to explain.  
_:You all know the human who became my companion. His clan call him Hiccup. To us, he's our hero. Today, I taught Hiccup our alphabet.: _The hatchling was thrown off guard a little at the surprised twittering and fussing of some of the slightly older dragons but a gentle nudge from Meatlug reminded him to keep going. _:He grasped the basics very quickly. He translates from Dragon to Human very slowly as he has to work letter by letter but I am sure that he will master our written tongue. I have spoken to Hookfang about this and I think this human is special.:  
:How special?!: _One rather outspoken Nightmare called and got a very serious expression from the midnight black dragon for their trouble.  
_:If I've understood the story Hookfang told me, I think he might the one that old Terror prophecy mentioned. The one to bring back the old ways.:_


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

While the dragons assumed that all the humans were fast asleep, they were wrong. With the new knowledge of a draconian alphabet, Hiccup had decided to stay up and translate the first page of the book Toothless had given him. Frankly, the boy was too excited to sleep as he would finally find out what Toothless wanted him to read and he was perfectly happy to have to work at it because working this hard would be much more rewarding when he finally read the words. He had a separate and brand new blank journal open so he could write the translations there and have his own copy of the book instead of scribbling all over the original and ruining the ancient thing. He was scratching away in this new journal, intelligent green gaze flickering between the dictionary in his lap and the book sat to his left. It was being carefully propped open by his boots so he didn't get a crick in his neck every time he looked over to scribble down the next symbol. He'd done something similar before and had ended up with an incredibly sore neck that hadn't gotten better until he'd taken hour long sauna sessions every day for a week to help loosen the muscles.

Working this way, constantly looking from the original book to his dictionary and then writing down the translation was having an interesting effect. Hiccup was slowly getting better at recognising which scratches meant which letter and was even starting to memorise the different patterns. There would be the odd mumble of "Does that dot belong above the line or below it?" or "Is that scratch with this set or that set?" but he slowly worked through the first few lines. However, despite Hiccup's excitement at improving with the alphabet he'd only learned that day, there was a new problem with the book. None of the words were familiar, even in Norse. He'd worked his way halfway down the page but all he got for his troubles were unfamiliar words that were now in Norse instead of Dragon! Frustrated, Hiccup fell back to lie down for a moment and get rid of the slight ache behind his eyes from staring at faded writing in low light for too long.  
"I thought the Gods had stopped picking on me." He grumbled to himself, wishing that Loki would stop using him as a plaything. After all, who else apart from the trickster God would enjoy watching him squirm every time he got into trouble? Although, to their credit, they had left him alone for some time now. If anything, Hiccup was only slightly annoyed at Odin, the All Father as well as father of knowledge. Then again, he couldn't exactly be mad at the head of the Gods so he mentally altered his complaint into something else and blamed it on bad luck.

His candle was starting to die and was casting long faded shadows on the wooden walls of Hiccup's room. Toothless still wasn't back but he wasn't worried; Toothless always came back, they were best friends after all. Thinking of Toothless calmed him down a little so he picked up his translated passage and tried to see if he could figure out these strange new words. But no matter how he sounded them out, Hiccup just couldn't figure out what they were meant to say. They didn't seem to fit any of the languages he'd come across either. As Vikings, they traded and fought with many people. So far, Hiccup had heard Gaul, Latin, Magyar and a little bit of Celtic and Gaelic though he couldn't speak or understand a word of those languages, he at least knew what they sounded like. These words fit none of the ones he'd come across before so Hiccup didn't really know where to turn next. However, there was one word in the very bottom of the page that seemed to catch his gaze. Turning to his journal, Hiccup tried to find what this word was.  
"Yol?" He mumbled to himself. "What the Hel does that mean?" Yet the word held his attention and he felt a slight buzz underneath his skin. If Hiccup were younger, he would suggest magic was in play here but he didn't make conclusions unless he had proof. Then again, without proof, magic was usually a good answer. The buzz faded and the magic seemed to end yet Hiccup felt a strange feeling in his head. The word he'd read out, yol, seemed to hover at the edge of his mind and he had the strangest feeling that it was important. These feelings confused Hiccup but he could always ask Toothless in the morning. So for now, he decided to put the entire matter out of his mind and get some sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Hiccup rose with the sun as the rays fell through his window. The sun brought back the issues and questions that the boy had come across the night before so Hiccup dragged himself out of bed, washed and approached Toothless.  
"Morning, bud." He said as cheerfully as he could manage as it was a little early for him as well. Hiccup smiled as Toothless opened a bleary eye and crooned. "You look as tired as I feel." He commented and threw Toothless a salmon he hadn't eaten last night. It was enough to snap Toothless into a slightly more awake state. "Hey, I've got a question for you. What does yol mean?"  
Toothless' reaction was curious. His ears flicked, his eyes widened and he generally just perked up and no longer looked sleepy. The dragon's head was tilted slightly in curiosity before he started to scratch his answer into the hard stone he slept on. Quick as a flash, Hiccup grabbed his journal but found he didn't need to look at it as often though he still made a record of their conversation.  
_**Yol is dragon word for fire.**_Toothless had written which made Hiccup's eyes widen to the size of his father's appetite and all thoughts and wishes of returning to bed to sleep for a while longer were brushed away.  
"So... you don't just have a written language?" He asked, his voice doing that curious thing where it dropped to whisper.  
_**All can write, all know spoken tongue, not all can speak. Have to learn from parents who know how to speak. Takes years to learn to speak words instead of sounds.**__  
_Hiccup furiously scribbled Toothless' answer and took a moment to make sense of it. So, dragons had both a written and spoken language but not all dragons had the ability to speak. They had the chance to learn but it meant training their voices and throats to move in the right way to produce recogniseable words instead of typical draconic sounds.

"Do specific words usually glow when you read them?" Hiccup curiously asked, remembering quite vividly how the word had glowed a soft orange before turning bright blue. Toothless tilted his head and wrote another answer.  
_**Will have to ask Hookfang. Words shouldn't glow but Hookfang knows more. He'll know.  
**_"Okay. Shall we go see him now?" He asked and got a nod so the pair left the Haddock household and journeyed towards the home of Hiccup's cousin, Snotlout.

About halfway to Snotlout's, Toothless changed direction and headed towards part of the forest.  
"Uh, Toothless, Snotlout's house is this way." He then watched as Toothless scribbled a quick message in the dirt just in front of him. The dictionary of his was coming in handy but, once again, Hiccup noticed that some letters were becoming easier for him to recognise.  
_**Hookfang is leader of all dragons, he's doing business in forest today.**_  
Hookfang was the leader?! From what Hiccup could gather, Hookfang was a rather temperamental dragon who quickly got fed up with his cousin's antics. To hear that the large red dragon was actually known as the leader surprised him.  
"Why is he the leader?" He asked, genuinely curious. Perhaps he'd misjudged the Nightmare.  
_**Hookfang is oldest and most knowledgeable. Was alive before war. One of first to fall under the Queen's spell. Everyone wanted him as leader.  
**_Yet another surprise; Hookfang was not only a capable leader but the rest of the dragons on Berk had actually wanted him to be in charge. Hiccup nodded in understanding and continued to follow Toothless.  
They arrived at a very quiet clearing where a tiny stream trickled through. There was plenty of Wintry sunlight peeking through green leaves and also plenty of shadow. Sat by the stream was a very frail looking emerald coloured Terror who was curled up next to a large red Nightmare; it was Hookfang. The Terror was making little growls and rumbles while Hookfang crooned back almost affectionately. Hiccup thought the Terror sounded rather frail.  
"What's going on?" He whispered to Toothless.  
_**Terror is dying. Hookfang is giving comfort. Terror will sleep and die peacefully.  
**_Toothless' simple answer blew Hiccup's mind. Not only did it imply that Hookfang was actually a very gentle dragon, this practise of comforting an old dragon so it died peacefully was very normal.

He must have made a sound because both dragons suddenly lifted their heads and were staring right at him. Hiccup didn't know what was going on as Toothless was staring right back, tail waving slightly. Maybe they were talking? But he couldn't hear any sounds so that didn't make sense. He was snapped out of his thoughts by a nose nuzzling against his leg. The Terror was there, crooning and purring at him and Hiccup couldn't resist so he sat down and let the Terror curl up on his lap. Hiccup watched as the Terror's little chest heaved shorter and shallower breaths before stopping altogether. He'd never watched a dragon die before and he felt himself tearing up a little but Toothless just nudged him then nudged the Terror. With a closer look at the tiny reptile, Hiccup swore it was smiling. That cheered him up a little and encouraged a small smile of his own. Then Hiccup noticed something else, the Terror was glowing slightly; soft orange just like the word in the book last night. That slight tingle beneath his skin appeared again as he felt some kind of magic at work but there was a similar tingle at the very back of his mind. Hiccup swore that the orange glow was flowing in some direction; at him. No, not at him, into him! What the Hel was going on?! His green eyes locked on to his dragon but Toothless was only watching in wonder and confusion as was Hookfang. And then… the tingling sensations stopped but the word he had learned the night before was now strong in his mind and was connected to an image of a blazing fire. Confused and shaken, Hiccup watched as Toothless bounced around Hookfang and waved his tail excitedly.  
_:I told you, Hookfang! Didn't I tell you?!: _That voice… young and over excited… where was it coming from? Hiccup looked around but he was the only human there.  
_:Yes, Toothless, you did.: _Another voice. This time deep and rumbling but peaceful and wise. _:He is the Whisperer.: _Hiccup was still looking around for the source of the voices when he suddenly had Hookfang in his face, reptilian gaze boring into his green one.  
_:Can you hear me?: _The rumbling voice asked. If Hiccup put the rather vague dots together… that meant…  
"A-are you… talking to me, Hookfang?" He asked slowly and hesitantly only to get a great shock as the large red dragon nodded. Hiccup took a couple of steps back mostly out of shock.  
"Gods above… what the Hel is going on?!" He asked, sounding rather like the frightened young Viking he had been before meeting Toothless.

Instead of an answer, Hiccup just heard Hookfang chuckle a deep amused chuckle.  
_:That is not how we greet each other.: _He said, still sounding very amused. _:Come, I will show you how. The elder always goes first in a formal greeting.: _Hookfang lead the way to a solid wall with a few scratches on it; dragon writing. Hiccup was able to pick out a few letters that he recognised and used common sense to fill in the blanks. From what he could guess, it was a list of names, possibly of the dragons that had died. Hiccup watched as Hookfang scratched another name, the name of the Terror, into the rock face before blasting a smaller set of rocks next to it with red hot fire. The red dragon then turned to face Hiccup again.  
_:You know the word, I can sense it. Greet me again but this time, introduce yourself as dovah.: _For a moment, Hiccup wondered what 'dovah' meant but that thought was wiped away as the word in his mind suddenly lept forward to be used. The young Viking felt some kind of powerful force in his throat slowly building and scorching and stretching his throat like he was about to throw up. Then his throat started to burn almost painfully but that power finally forced its way out of his mouth and he heard himself almost yell the word that had plagued his mind all night.  
"_**YOL!**_" It had been pure instinct and it had felt right but when Hiccup looked at the rock, he saw that he had just breathed fire… like a dragon. He yelped and jumped back in pure shock and confusion and wondered what had just happened. He looked back at Hookfang who seemed to be very pleased with this and simply seemed to grin back at the Viking.  
_:Well done. I expect you want answers.: _Hiccup could only mutely nod. _:Toothless came to me two nights ago with a hunch. I now see that it's been proved right. You see, there is a story among dragonkind of a human born with the blood of a dragon. It has happened before, long before our time and it seems, it has happened again.:  
_"Woah, woah, woah. There is no way I could have dragon blood in me!" Hiccup replied, waving his hands in an 'x' formation to emphasise his point.  
_:Ah, but you can hear our mental speech, you've become well versed in our alphabet in just two days and you have used a power that only dragons and those with the dragon blood can use.: _Hookfang responded calmly. _:If you will calm down, I will tell you a story.:_


End file.
